Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/82

68 edition of the "Kan-lu-tzŭ-shu" of Yen Yuan-sun (彥元孫) of the T‘ang period. The other was the "Han li-tzŭ-yuan" (漢隸字源), Sources of the Li characters in the Han literature. This is regarded as a trustworthy guide to the Li writing found in books and inscriptions of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms. It gives the modern forms of the characters, their Li equivalents, adding the history and explanation of them.

Another student of the language about this time was Lo Yuan (羅厚願 [sic]) al. Tuan-liang (端良) who was born in 1136 and died in 1184. He compiled a treatise to which he gave the name "Urh-ya-i" (爾雅翼) Wings, that is, useful additions to the "Urh-ya." This is a supplement to the original thesaurus, and Dr. Legge considers it superior to the "P‘i-ya" of Luh T'ien.

In the year 1150 appeared the first edition of a dictionary which soon became famous and to some extent a standard authority. This was the "Wu-yin-chi-yun" (五音集韻); which was originally compiled by Ching P‘o (荆璞) al. Yen-pao (彥寶) of Chao-chow (趙州) in Chih-li. Soon after publication it was taken in hand by several members of the Han family of Chang-li in the Chên-ting district of Chih-li. Hence the actual compiling of the work is sometimes ascribed to one of these Hans, by name Hsiao-yen (孝彥), who has in consequence received much praise for the merits of the treatise. Then about 1212 a son of Hsiao-yen, by name Tao-chao (韓道昭) al. Po-hui (伯暉) published a new and improved edition, and the "Wu-yin-yun-chi" is often quoted as his work. He prefixed the words "Kai-ping" (改併) to the title in order to show that he had altered and condensed the original treatise. It is this edition by Han Tao-chao which is best known, and it is a peculiar and interesting work. The basis of the "Wu-yin-chi-yun" was the "Chi-yun," but other treatises, and specially the "Lei-pien" of Ssŭ-ma-kuang were also used in its compilation. In its present form it combines the tonic and syllabic analyses of words with their arrangement under like